LIBERTY — Stanley Williamson of Warren spent hours Saturday afternoon defeating orcs from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, dragons from “Game of Thrones” and even a friendlyneighborhood “Spider-Man.”
Williamson, 32, played on more than a dozen of more than 140 pinball machines that filled the Metroplex Expo Center, 1620 Motor Inn Drive, as part of the second annual Ohio PinBrew Festival.
PinBrew directors Keith Campanelli and Marvin Ortscheid said they were pleased that this year’s festival grew and helped people get over the last two years of the pandemic.
“We looked at doing this in 2020, but the (COVID-19) pandemic occurred,” Campanelli said. “We decided to pull the trigger last year and have it. It turned out we were the first pinball festival that came back after the pandemic in 2020.”
Campanelli said the PinBrew Festival featured more than 140 working pinball machines operating in free play mode inside the building.
“The majority of the pinball machines were brought in by their owners,” Campanelli said. “The crowds we’ve seen this year are larger than we had last year. We hope to continue tweaking things, so it will continue to grow.”
The two men decided to have a festival that combines pinball playing and drinking beer.
“They seem to work well together,” Campanelli said. “Some of the funds from the beer breweries go to a charity.”
Ortscheid said the pinball industry has really taken off in the last several years.
“It was dying off around 2009 and 2010,” Ortscheild said. “However, then, we had new manufacturers becoming involved. They cannot keep up with the demand. It is not hard to find a new game.”
Ortscheid said an increasing number of people are buying pinball machines for game rooms in their homes.
“It is a sense of nostalgia for some people,” Campanelli said. “We want to keep adding things to this show.”
There are 20 to 30 pinball festivals across the United States.
The Youngstown area has significance in pinball history as the first coin-operated pinball machine “Whiffle” was designed and created by Youngstown’s Arthur Paulin and Automatic Industries, Inc. in the 1930s. The first-ever pinball festival called “Pinball Expo” was founded by two enthusiasts from Warren and Canfield, Campanelli said.
“Every man needs a man cave and every man cave needs a pinball machine,” Tori Nord of Hubbard said.
Scott Nord said people like using the old-fashioned pinball machine because they like the tactile feel of the ball and using the paddles to hit it.
Girard resident Dr. Steve Martin and his wife, Alexia, have seen the number of pinball machines in their home grow from one to about a dozen.
“We just like having the pinball machines in our house,” Alexia said.
rsmith@tribtoday.com
